Dear Santa,
by xascasfellx
Summary: "Santa's always watching, Dean."


Title: Dear Santa,

Author: xascasfellx

Rating: M

Pairing: Dean/Castiel

Spoilers: Kid!Fic AU

Word Count: 2, 613

Warning: Slightly ooc Dean

_**Day Three of 12 Days of Destiel**_

Emma had wanted to see Santa since Thanksgiving ended. Dean was never one for lying to his daughter, he always told her right off bat how things were, but he could never bring himself to tell his little girl that Santa wasn't real. She had such a wild imagination. She believed in everything; monsters, werewolf's, vampires, etc. So for now, he would go along with her make believe. He'd let her believe anything as long as she was happy.

That's how he ended up in line, on a Saturday, at the crowded mall with a hundred other parents not paying attention to their kids, climbing and pushing over everyone else. Only for his daughter would he do this. They weren't that far from the front of the line and Emma was shaking she was so excited, small envelope clutched in her sticky hands. Every single year she always wrote a letter to Santa, ever since she was old enough to pick up a crayon. He smiled down at his girl, pulling her close to his leg as another rowdy child ran past.

The line moved slowly. The longer it took to get to the front the more Emma got impatient. She was only seven so she couldn't stand in line for long periods of time without getting upset. She pulled on his pant leg, begging him to look down. He did and her eyes were full of little tears. His heart jerked. Dean bent down and pulled her into his arms, resting her nice and easy on his hip.

"Santa will forget about me before we get up there." She whispered, nuzzling her little face into his neck. Her nose was ice cold.

"Santa could never forget about you Em. He's Santa Clause. He's going to get to everyone." Just as the words left his mouth the line moved forward—thank God they were next. Emma looked up from her spot on his neck. When she saw Santa she began to jiggle her little body out of his arms, bouncing on the balls of her feet with excitement. Just as the small boy in front of them jumped off Santa's lap to run to his waiting mother, their eyes met. At first he looked down at Dean's side to see Emma, a spitting image of Dean, he might add proudly, but then looked back up at her father. Dean sucked in a sharp breath, unable to look anywhere else but at the bluest eyes he'd ever seen. Santa was beautiful.

"Sir?" A high pitched voice drew him back to reality and out of the depths of Santa's eyes. Emma was already walking towards Santa, looking back at Dean for permission. He nodded to his daughter, handing the woman a twenty for the pictures they would take. Emma was smaller than most kids, so Santa had to reach down and help her up on his lap. An image of Dean sitting on Santa's lap rushed through his mind. His cheeks turned bright red. His voice was low and rough, but ultimately jolly when he spoke to her. It was hard to tell how old he was, due to the beard and all, but from the absence of wrinkles around his eyes, and the lightness in his voice, he wasn't much older than Dean. He asked her what she wanted for Christmas, and instead of telling him out loud, she bashfully ducked her head, and handed him the letter. Once again, their eyes met. He was smiling under his snow white beard, amused by Emma's unusual way of asking for what she wanted. Dean only shrugged his shoulders, making sure he wasn't smiling too much. He could hear Santa tell her he will keep it safe till he was back at the North Pole for him to read. She nearly squealed with delight. A second later Emma was jumping off Santa's lap, rushing towards her daddy. The picture lady, dressed as a very tall elf, handed him the already developed picture of Emma and Santa.

She was sitting with her back as straight as possible, green eyes shining brighter than the sun, smile warming his heart by just looking at it. Emma reached him with a crashing hug to his leg, he bent down, picking her up, tickling her sides as he lifted her over his head. She laughed out loud, grabbing attention of a few nearby parents—and one particularly hot Santa.

….

Dean would never stoop this low, this pathetic, in a million years, but there was just something so mesmerizing about that Santa's eyes; the way he held himself, the way he was with Dean's daughter, that made him want to see him one more time. Sam was less than thrilled, but in the end, he just threw his hands up and said, _what the hell_.

"Uncle Dean, I thought mommy was taking me to see Santa." Dean looked down at his nephew with a lopsided grin, gently patting his head. Jess probably wasn't going to like him taking Ryder without her, but Sam would tell her why he had to, and then they'd both make fun of him for years to come because of it. It was worth it though. Since they got there, near closing time, he hadn't taken his eyes off Blue eyed Santa. His mind was filling with every possible scenario of him sitting on Santa's lap, being on the naughty list, one even contained an costume in it. He felt bad when his cock twitched in his pants and his five year old nephew was standing right beside him. He had to take a few deep breathes to calm himself down.

"Because mommy and daddy wanted to spend some time together, just the two of them." It wasn't a total lie. Jess hadn't been feeling well, early pregnancy sickness, and wanted to rest before she took Ryder, seeing as though Sam was going to be decorating the house all day. A little white lie never hurt anyone.

"Oh. Uncle Dean?" He looked up at him with huge brown eyes that no one in the world could say no too.

"What buddy?"

"I'm sleepy. Can you maybe…" He reached his chubby arms up towards his Uncle. Like he said, no one could say no to Ryder. Dean bent down and picked him up, leaning him safely against his chest. He was asleep within seconds. He thought about turning around and just going home, giving up on whatever he was really about to do here, but the person in front of them left, signaling their turn. Dean walked through the gates right up to Blue Eyed Santa, ready to wake the sleeping child he carried for his picture. Since there was no one else in line and Ryder was asleep, Santa talked normally to Dean.

"You were here yesterday. You're daughter; she was the one with the letter." His voice was already low, but when he talked as Santa he made it a few octaves lower. It made his heart flutter, which was weird. It had never done that before, not even when he was married to Emma's mother.

"Yah that was us. I'm surprised you remember. You must have a lot of kids coming and going." His voice was shaking all over the place, but Santa didn't seem to notice.

"She was the only one to hand me a letter. I don't think I could forget. Is this your son?" He asked, looking at the sleeping boy on Dean's chest.

"No, he's my nephew. His mom was sick and couldn't bring him." Again, it wasn't entirely a lie.

"That was nice of you. Did you want…he looks tired. I know you probably waited in line for a long time…" They had, in fact, been waiting in line for a long time, almost an hour to be exact. He brushed aside a strand of hair from Ryder's face, earning him a soft moan from the boy. Dean smiled at Santa.

"Yah, I guess we should just head home, come back when he is awake. Sorry to waste your time." Santa stood, waving a hand at Dean's comment.

"It's perfectly okay. As much as I love the kids, it's nice to talk to someone who doesn't come up to my knees." He laughed to himself, stretching out his hands over his head. "Do you mind if I walk with you? I've been sitting in that chair all day." Dean had to hide his mouth in Ryder's tangled hair, to keep Santa from seeing his dumb grin.

"Yah sure…uh…sorry I didn't get your name, _Santa_." He mentally kicked himself for adding the last part.

"Castiel Novak, but you can call me Cas if you prefer."

"Cool name dude. Uh, Dean Winchester. This is Ryder, and you met Emma yesterday." Cas smiled down at Ryder than back at Dean. Even though he could only see the blue eyes through the beard he couldn't help but fantasizing about him; which was _not_ Dean at all.

"Do you mind if I go take off this suit. I'm sure the children still here wouldn't like it if Santa went around without his beard." Cas was pulling at the fabric, wrinkling his nose like he was about to sneeze. It was oddly cute on a grown ass man.

"Sure, no, go ahead. I should call my brother, Sam, to tell him we didn't get the picture." Cas nodded, disappearing behind the curtain off to the side.

Sam wasn't too happy that they didn't get a picture with Cas. But Dean could care less what Sammy thought. First, he got to spend the afternoon with his nephew while Emma was at a sleepover, and secondly he got to talk to the Blue Eyed Santa. Everything was okay in Dean's book. Castiel had just made it out of the tent, dressed in an ACDC shirt and faded jeans, when he was hanging up the phone, trying to hold on to Ryder without dropping him.

"Need some help?" Cas asked, laughing at Dean's one handed phone juggle.

"Actually, uh, I kinda need to get my keys out…"

"Okay. Where are they?" Cas came closer to Dean, nearly toughing his shoulder.

"They're in my back pocket." His voice cracked at the end. Maybe it was his imagination, but he thought he saw a hint of a smile spread of Cas' lips.

"Okay." Cas reached down, sliding his hand in Dean's back pocket, eyes locked together. His hand lingered inside his pocket longer than they should have, but of course, Dean didn't say anything.

"Thanks." He nearly moaned. Ryder moved gently in Dean's arms, knocking them both out of the trance. He really did need to get him home. Sam was already upset enough, and he did not want to get on Jess' bad side. Dean began to walk towards the front of the mall, Cas followed by his side, close, but not touching. Dean could feel his body heat warming his own skin.

He caught himself sneaking glances over at his companion because, well, Castiel was fucking hot. The Santa suit did him injustice. He was probably the hottest person Dean had ever come in contact with. He was in trouble. They were silent for a few minutes until Cas began to whistle a familiar Christmas carol. When Dean casted his head to the side to get a better look at him, Cas stopped and flushed red.

"What?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all." He shifted Ryder to his other side, placing a firm hand on the boy's back.

"So, Dean, you know that I work as Santa, what do you do?"

"I'm a landscaper. Well, technically I own my own landscaping business, but I like to get out on the field a lot."

"That's wonderful Dean. And here I am, just a part time Santa at the mall." Dean stopped, turning to face Cas. They were almost at the exit now, but he wanted to keep talking to him. He enjoyed it.

"Hey, you bring joy to children, you let them believe in something magical. That's more than a lot of people can say they have ever done in their lives. I mean, did you see Emma's smile yesterday. You put that smile on her face. And if little man here had gotten a chance to see you, he'd be crying from excitement." Cas chuckled, rubbing a small circle on Ryder's back. He stretched out, making Dean almost drop him.

"He's getting heavier. Soon, he'll be bigger than his dad." They continued their walk towards the parking lot. It was chilly out; snow weather. "What about you? Have any kids? A wife? A husband?"

"Nope. Just me." Cas bit his lip, like he was wanting to ask something, but couldn't decide whether he wanted to or not. "How about you Dean? You're married I assume…" Dean looked away suddenly embarrassed. He couldn't blame Cas for asking. He got the question a lot. He had a daughter who looked exactly like him, so somewhere down the line he had to have a woman; Lydia.

"I was. For five years actually. Her name was Lydia. We had Emma three years after our wedding."

"Oh…" Dean casted a sideways glance at Cas, seeing the disappointment on his face.

"It didn't work out." He hurried, trying to set things straight. "She wasn't ready to be a mother, and I realized…I wasn't as interested in women as I used to be…" He saw Cas' eyes brighten up then. They arrived too early at Dean's car. He gently strapped Ryder into his car seat, trying not to wake him.

After closing the door Dean' leaned against his car, watching Cas. He was smiling at Dean.

"You're a good dad, Dean. I noticed the way you looked at Emma. I can tell she adores you."

"She's amazing. After her mother left, I just, I wanted to give her the best chance she could have you know? I wanted her to grow up with as normal a life as she could have. She's always surrounded by family and friends. I want her to do well in life. I just want her to be happy." He sounded like one of those proud dads that were on that commercial he always used to make fun of when he was in college. The only difference, he wasn't lying. Emma was a gem. She was his Angel. She made everything better.

"I can tell she's happy Dean. I see a lot of children in my line of work, some don't even come close to the love I see in her eyes. She's a real sweetie."

"Thanks Cas." He knew know that their conversation was dying down. He knew soon he'd have to leave. It was going on nine.

"I should go. I have to get him home." Cas nodded, stepping up to Dean. He searched his eyes with focus and curiosity.

"Can I see you again Dean?" He didn't need to think about it. The word hung on his lips the entire night.

"Hell yes."

Smiling, Cas stood taller, placing his lips to Dean's. It wasn't much, just a goodnight peck, but it held more lust and passion in it than any kiss with Lydia ever had.

"See you soon Dean." He turned around and began to walk towards the other side of the parking lot.

"Cas, wait!" Castiel turned around, raising an eyebrow at Dean. "How will I get in contact with you?" A mysterious smirk formed on Cas' face.

"Santa's always watching, Dean." And with a wink, he walked into the night, just as snow began to flutter to the ground.


End file.
